


Corruption

by Mysterious_Prophetess



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Corruption, Gen, Origin Story, experimental fic, fall from grace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 07:14:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10894383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterious_Prophetess/pseuds/Mysterious_Prophetess
Summary: Fulfilling the role the gods gave him, Ardyn absorbed too much scourge and was to be expelled from his role, his throne, and his own life.Izunia was faced with a role he never wanted and a mission he wished to never undertake.One moment was all it took to create the Accursed One.





	Corruption

He was slipping. Day by day. He knew sooner or later he would lose the battle against the horde within. How had it gone so wrong. Cursed by the Astrals, scorned by the very people he strove to save, burned by the magic he’d once fashioned into a shield for his people. Ardyn Lucis Caelum would be eaten by these creatures until there remained but a shell of himself. Adryn shuddered as he tried to keep his footing against the great axe that continued relentlessly striking at his sword, scoring what should be fatal hits here and there; gods would not let his accursed body die. The mighty blows hurt, no matter how unkillable he was in this state. He was forced against a wall with the point of the shaft at his chin. A spin in either direcetion would mean his head. The deamons surged.

 _Blood. Kill. Infect. Blood. Now!_ **Now!** Ardyn let out an inhuman screech dropping his sword and slamming his head against a wall. Before he could even attempt to warp, more light joined that of the already glowing axe and the ring that now adorned the other’s right hand.

“Adryn Lucis Caelum, for the good of our realm and our people, I-I will carry out the sentence of the gods.” Little Izunia. Well, not so little anymore. Gone was the waif of a brother he’d all but raised from childhood, in his stead a tall, strong, young man with the bearing of their father before them. Glaring at him with the blue eyes he’d had once before the corruption set in. The Axe never moved but Ardyn’s sword _did_. It glowed and floated upwards away from him and it slammed into Izunia’s chest before it joined the rest of the armiger, glowing blue. Izunia switched weapons and now held Ardyn’s own blade against his throat, completing the betrayal.

“I-In the name of the Six, you are cast out forever more, in body, mind, spirit, knowledge, and memory!” Izunia struck true through his throat and all he knew was darkness.

—————————————————————————————————

_The world was dark and yet light at the same time. He wasn’t alive? He looked down at his ethereal gauntleted hands. He was a spirit. Izunia had succeeded! A tug pulled on Ardyn’s spirit drawing him out of wherever he was, some sort of purgatory perhaps, and if he’d been a physical form, he might have wept. There, still trying to murder his baby brother, was his body. How could it be moving if he were not in it—The daemons. The shell gave him a smirk before it redoubled its efforts. There had to be something he could do. Wait, there was still something. They were right next to it!_

—————————————————————————————————

Izunia couldn’t understand. He’d done everything the gods had told him to so that his-his— So that _Ardyn_ could rest in peace, but he was still there and more malicious than ever.

“You’ve **_always_** resented me. Poor little Izu. The Second Son. **The Spare**.”

“No.”

**_“You’ve always been envious of my power, my genius, my destiny, my birthright! Always desiring what was not yours!”_ **

“No! I never wanted this,” Izunia barely used his axe to deflect the sword Ardyn had managed to re-summon. The magic was a corrupted red now. Even before this failed ritual, Ardyn’s weapons had been blue.

Now, Iznunia had utterly destroyed **_everything_**. By the Six, he’d be the biggest failure of a King Lucis had ever seen, and he was only its second King! The teenager tripped over something slithering nearby and barely warped away from the attack of a Naga that burst forth from the ground. Daemons. Ardyn was truly the Accursed one now, summoning forth deamons. Before the new beast could attack him directly, a giant stone sword slammed into theNaga, bisecting her vertically, causing her to flop to the ground in a gory, evaporating mess. _Ardyn’s mad idea!_

—————————————————————————————————

_Seven Years Previous_

_Izunia was like most nine year olds; he’d rather be out studying sword play than watching his older brother enchant statues, even if his brother_ **_was_ ** _the king and he was the current heir apparent._

_“What are you even doing?” Izunia asked._

_“Making sure that, one day, should they ever need it, our descendants will have all the help they need, right here around the City itself,” Ardyn said messing up Izunia’s hair._

_“What will they even do?”_

_“Whenever the need is great enough, they’ll call on the ring and it’ll answer their call_.”

—————————————————————————————————

That had been before the Calling, before Ardyn assumed the role of chosen one, and before it had consumed him utterly. The Ring of the Lucii was glowing brighter than ever. How was the Sacred Wall even working?

 _Be calm, Izu, I have this._ That voice alone made him nearly drop his axe then and there. The drain was taking its toll on Izunia and it was all he could do to keep upright. The last thing he saw before he collapse was something large with wings.

—————————————————————————————————

Ardyn stared down his dark shell as it howled and cursed him. A shiver of power made Ardyn turn to see the Draconian had arisen from the Crystal.

“Begone fowl Accursed, until your time comes!” the Draconian’s palm glowed as several of his swords began to circle the shell, eliciting bestial screams from it as chains of light bound it before the blades and the Shell were banished into the sky. The Draconian stared at Ardyn’s form and, for a moment, time was frozen.

“First King, you have given up much, I am afraid because of your corruption, I must ask you to give up one last thing,” the Draconian said.

“You wish for my consciousness to return to that Shell,” Ardyn said.

“A being of pure malice would bring this world to its knees before another Lucii worthy of your burden will be born,” the Draconian said, “Do not fear, for it is only your consciousness I require.”

“You would strip me of my soul,” Ardyn said crossing his arms, “And in the same breath tell me that I am not to fear.”

“This is merely a courtesy, Failed King,” Bahamut said as he reached a hand towards Ardyn’s essence and he screamed.

—————————————————————————————————

Coming to in the darkness, with them writhing under his skin, Ardyn let out a howl of anguish. The raw burning of the daemons writhing beneath his flesh magnified by ten without the light within to dull their essences.

—————————————————————————————————

Time lost all meaning in the pain and in the dark. The ever writhing, twisting dark.

 _This_ was the thanks he got? _This_? Fine. If the Six wanted to shape him into a monster, then a monster he would, as soon as he broke free of that betrayer’s foul chains and escaped this stone prison.

The Astrals would rue this day. So, would his treacherous, jealous little brother and his upstart line of descendants on a throne they were never meant to have. He’d stamp out their light and the light of that miserable star while he was at it. What better way to play the part they’d given him.

—————————————————————————————————

**Author's Note:**

> It is an interesting fic, I'm sure. Probably not the greatest but I whipped it up on a half-mad plot bunny. It's also like 4AM where I live. I'm celebrating finals week ending so.......  
> I was inspired by a comment made on[ a tumblr post made by @eternallydaydeaming2015](https://eternallydaydreaming2015.tumblr.com/post/160610213672/strangability-eternallydaydreaming2015) and it spiraled from there
> 
>  **Note Added At a Sane Time on May 13** : I've gone back and fixed my 4 AM errors, hopefully.


End file.
